Can-opener.



W. P. GISSKE.

CAN OPENER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1911.

1,023,838. 4 Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

7?). $3 @wmiLL 41;; arm/W citizen of the United States,

WALTER I. GISSKE, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

CAN-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

Application filed June 21, 1911. Serial No. 634,606.

To all whom 2'25 may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER P. GIssKE, a residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, State of Cali fornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Can-Openers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device adapted to move the top or lid of a can from the body thereof, where the lid is merely in frictional engagement with the body.

In cans as commonly used for holding shoe blacking, baking powder, spices and the like, the lids are tightly placed in frictional engagement with the body of the cans and are sometimes extremely difficult to remove.

And it makes for efiiciency that the lid should be in as tight engagement with the body as possible as the cans are thereby made air-tight.

I have provided a small attachment to be mounted directly on a. can and by a simple manipulation to force the cover from the can.

It is the chief object of this invention to provide such a device of simple and small form which may be easily manufactured and placed upon the can and which will lie flatly against the can and occupy a minimum space thereon; and also to provide such a device which will not allow entry of air into the can. All of these objects I have accomplished in the device to be described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a can provided with my improved opening device. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation ofthe device itself. Fig. 3 is a side view of the same. Fig. 1 is an elevation of the depression in theside of the can in which my device is placed. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section taken on line 66 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a view s'imilar to Fig. 6 of the modified form of de-,

pression. Fig. 8 is an inner plan view of the depression shown in Fig. 7 Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 99 of- Fig. 1 and showing my complete device in place. Fig. 10 is a sectional view showing a modified form of device. Fig. 11 is a section taken on line 1l-11 of Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a section showing another modified form.

In the drawings 5 designates the body of a can and 6 the lid thereof, the lid 6 fitting rior is rendered air-tight. Under those circumstances it is diflicult to force. the cover off the body, especially if the edge of the cover is plain and flat as is shown in Fig. 1 and is not flared outwardly to afford a shoulder for engagement with a removing tool.

I am aware that there are certain devices for removing can covers, but some of these require the use of a flared edge on the cover, which in itself is objectionable.

For the purposes of my opening device I provide a small depression 10 in the side wall of the body portion of the can andof somewhat the configuration shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. The bottom wall 10? of this depression is imperforate but the two vertical side walls 10? have each an opening l0 near their upper ends as is shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

My opening device proper consists of a small piece of metal 20 formed as is best shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The upper portion 20 of this piece is oif-set from the lower portion 20 so that the upper portion may enter depression 10 as is shown in Fig. 9 and so that the flange or edge portion 6 of the cover may come down over portion 20. At the opposite sides of the upper edge of portion 20 projections 25 are formed, which projections engage with apertures 10 to form a pivotal support for the member 20 at its upper end. It will be seen that the portions 20 and 20 are separated on the outer surface 0f the member by a shoulder 20 which lies directly below the edge of. the cover flange. The lower endof portion 20 is beveled, preferably, as at 20, so that the finger-nail may be inserted beneath the member and the member raised in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 9. When this is done the shoulder 20 comes into engagement with the edge of the cover and the upward movement of member 20 will then raise the cover and disengage it from the body of the can. After having been used the device falls down against the side of the can where it is out of the wa lying flatlyv against the can and occupyin no appreciable s ace and not'interfering w1th the packing of the can in boxes or crates.

In Figs. 6 and 7 I have shown a modified form of depression, designated as 10', and

m which lateral depressions 10 take the place of aperture 10 in the preferred form. lhis form has the advantage of not making any aperture at all in the body of the can and therefore being completely and totally air-tight; and for this reason this form may be preferably adopted for some classes of cans. But it will be seen that the first described form is practically air-tight, as the projections 25 practicall fill the aperture 10 and as the edge-portion 6 of the cover 6 comes down over the portion 20 of the opening device and thus covers up the aperture 10 and the upper part ot the member 20. These two forms of mounting of the member 20 upon the can are typical of other forms which will suggest themselves to. those skilled in the art and of which no further mention is here necessary.

In Figs. 10, 11 and 12 other modified forms of device.

I have illustrated In Figs.

10 and 11 the opening device 20 is shown as passing through an aperture in the can cover and having an end 41 overhanging the u per edge of the can body. The end 41 is spit and spread apart as shown in Fig. 11 so as to prevent withdrawal from aperture 40. In this form, pulling the device 20- outwardly will force the end 41- down on the can body and -raise the cover.

In Fig. 12 I have illustrated another form in which the device 20" passes through an aperture 42 in the upper edge portion of the can body, end 43 projecting inside the body. The action of this form is the same as that of the form of Fig. 1.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a can body having a cover placed over its end, a depression formed in the can body beneath the edge of \being adapted to engage noeaeaa the cover, and a cover engaging member pivoted to the can body on a pivot parallel to the can wall within-the depression and having a portion which lies wholly within the. depression and is covered by the edge of the cover and having a portion which projects out of the depression and beyond the edge of the cover and having a shoulder separating the two portions,

under the edge of the cover to raise the cover off the body when the cover engaging member is moved upwardly about its pivotal support.

2. In combination with a can body having a cover placed over' its end, a depression formed in 'the'can body, the depth of said depression being perpendicular to the surface of the can body, lateral depressions on opposite sides of the first mentioned depression and on a common axis parallel to the edge of the can over which the cover fits, the cover fitting down over the ed e of the can over the depression therein, an a cover engaging member having its upper end in said depression under the can cover and havin lugs on its endengaging inthe said latera depressions, the lower end of the cover engaging member projecting down wardly a ongside the can body and being offset from the upper portion to form an upwardly facing shoulder'directly beneath the can coveredge.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereuntosubscribed my name this 14th day of June 1911. 1

' WALTER P. GISSKE."

Witnesses;

James T. Bammmw,

Jae. H. Eamon.

the "shoulder 

